Harassment Charges

Nazareth Councilmen Jack Herbst and Tom Heckman and Herbst's wife were acquitted Tuesday of summary harassment charges. They were charged in a private criminal complaint filed by Pamela Mondschein of 58 South St. She is the next-door neighbor of Herbst and his wife, Karen Herbst. Mondschein testified before District Justice Michael J. Koury Jr. in Wilson that she named the councilmen in the complaint only because they were present Sept. 22 when Mondschein and Karen Herbst got into an argument.

While breaking up is hard to do, eventually you move on. But the heartache doesn't end for jilted lovers who find their ex has posted naked or sexually explicit photos or videos of them online as a parting shot. Their pain may only worsen as word of the images spreads and their friends, relatives, neighbors and co-workers view them or even have them sent directly to them by the spiteful ex. This growing problem goes well beyond posts on social media. Sick websites are dedicated to collecting these images, often called "revenge porn.

The Morning Call and another newspaper are pressing harassment charges against a Hilltown attorney in an incident Monday involving photographers outside a district justice's office in Montgomery County. The attorney, Jack J. Hetherington, was leaving District Justice John S. Murray's office in Blue Bell with client Catherine J. Brennan when he joined members of her family who were trying to block photographers from taking photos of Brennan, reports to police say. Brennan, 46, of Towamencin Township had been bound over for trial on charges of possession of $21,000 in stolen serum vaccine from the Merck, Sharp & Dohme laboratory in West Point where she worked.

A 26-year-old man charged with stabbing a Krocks Pub employee outside the Lower Macungie bar over a failed drug transaction gave up his right to a preliminary hearing Tuesday. Leslier A. San-Martin of Allentown was one of three men who beat and stabbed Ryan Shimp on June 15 in the parking lot of the bar at 1160 S. Krocks Road, state police at Fogelsville said. Police said the attack was the result of a drug deal that went bad earlier in the day. According to a criminal complaint: Shimp, a 19-year-old Wescosville resident, was arriving to work at Krocks Pub between 3:30 and 3:45 p.m. Shortly after he got there, San-Martin arrived with two other men. San-Martin confronted Shimp in the parking lot and the two started fighting.

A Centre County judge Monday dismissed all but two charges against Penn State safety Anthony Scirrotto in connection with an April off-campus fight, the Centre Daily Times reported. According to the paper, President Judge Charles C. Brown Jr. dismissed felony charges of burglary and criminal solicitation and misdemeanor counts of simple assault and criminal solicitation. Scirrotto still faces a felony criminal trespass charge and a summary harassment count for his involvement in the April 1 incident at a downtown apartment.

Harassment charges against Fred V. Butryn Jr., 40, of 1584 Eastwood Drive, Bethlehem, were dropped Friday by Bethlehem District Justice Joseph Maura because the complainant failed to appear. Margaret Butryn had told police her husband dragged her out of the Rosemont Fire Co., 1832 W. North St., on Nov. 29.

Assault and harassment charges against a Forks Township woman were dismissed Wednesday when the alleged victim in the case failed to testify at a preliminary hearing. Christine Spang, 34, of 1333 Richmond Road had been charged by Forks police with simple assault and harassment for allegedly kicking her husband, Stephen, at the Forks address July 6. Charges were dismissed by District Justice Ralph Litzenberger of Palmer Township.

NORRISTOWN Police arrested a patient of the Norristown State Hospital on Monday for allegedly beating another patient for a cigarette a month ago. James Elbert, 26, is accused of attacking Robert Weaver, 41, in the dayroom of Building 1, Ward C-2 on June 3. Elbert continually asked Weaver for a cigarette, police said. When Weaver refused, Elbert beat and kicked him. Elbert pushed Weaver into a fan, causing Weaver to fall. That's when Elbert kicked Weaver in the face, police said.

An Easton woman was held for Northampton County Court yesterday on privately filed criminal mischief and harassment charges. Melynda "Mindy" J. Amato, 19, of 170 E. Nesquehoning St., was charged by Jacqueline Santiago, 723 Washington St., second floor, with pointing a gun at Santiago and threatening to kill her on Jan. 7 at her home. Santiago also charged that Amato caused $633.88 in damage to her car. Amato, who appeared before District Justice Joseph Leo of Easton, is free on $3,000 recognizance bail.

State Rep. Joseph Brennan choked and punched his wife on the porch of their Fountain Hill home Wednesday afternoon and then drove away drunk, police said. Brennan, 48, was arrested a short time later near the Fountain Hill Little League field. He was charged with assault and drunken driving and released Wednesday night on $7,500 bail. Last year Brennan, a Democrat who represents parts of Lehigh and Northampton counties, was charged with drunken driving in Bethlehem and admitted into a first-offenders program.

Authorities charged a former Lansdale Catholic High School lacrosse coach with making false accusations of sexual misconduct against school officials. Tim Udinski was charged Tuesday with stalking and harassment charges. He is free under $25,000 unsecured bail. While Udinski served as the former head coach, he was fired in October after "repeated heated arguments" with players and staff, according to a news release from Montgomery County Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman. According to the release: The firing left Udinski "extremely upset," accoridng to Principal Tim Quinn.

An Allentown man this week pleaded guilty but mentally ill to aggravated assault for shooting his girlfriend in 2007. Russell Charles Neave, 39, also pleaded guilty to aggravated harassment for spitting on three Lehigh County Prison guards. Neave's plea deal, reached Monday, calls for all the sentences for the aggravated harassment charges to run together, meaning he could face up to seven years for the spitting offenses. For the shooting, he could get up to an additional 20 years.

A 31-year-old Lansdale woman wanted on a bench warrant was planning on leaving to South Carolina and never coming back to the state to face her charges, police said. "When I get to South Carolina I'm going to kiss the ground," the woman said into her phone. "I'm never coming back to Pennsylvania and will never see the inside of a Pennsylvania jail. " Unfortunately for 31-year-old Stephanie M. Virgilio, police were listening outside her door. Lansdale police said they were tipped off at 10 a.m. on Feb. 9 that Virgilio was planning on leaving the state with her children and went to her home in the 1100 block of Main Street.

One Albrightsville schoolgirl called another a name on their bus ride home Thursday afternoon, and at the bus stop they and two other girls got into a shouting and pushing match that eventually involved two women and state police. The four girls were charged with harassment. A 16-year-old girl called a 14-year-old girl a derogatory name, and when they got off the bus in the Indian Mountain Lakes community at 3:50 p.m., the younger girl confronted the name-caller and pushed her, state police at Fern Ridge said.

Central Catholic grad Kate Major asked a judge Wednesday to drop the harassment charges she had filed against ex-fiance Michael Lohan, 50. Kate, 27, who briefly dated Berks County dad of eight Jon Gosselin, also asked the Southampton Town, N.Y., judge to withdraw the PFA she had againt Lindsay Lohan's dad after an incident in July when he allegedly shoved her and kicked her in the face while she was on the ground. The judge agreed to drop the the second degree harassment charges as long as Lohan stays out of trouble for six months.

FOUNTAIN HILL A Massachusetts man who hit a nurse at St. Luke's Hospital, Fountain Hill, will face assault and harassment charges, police said. Bryan Fitzmartin, 21, who gave addresses in Newton, Mass., allegedly pushed and slapped a nurse in the hospital's emergency ward about 2:45 a.m. Sunday. Fountain Hill police said they did not know why Fitzmartin was in the hospital, though doctors released him before he was charged. Fitzmartin was charged with aggravated assault, simple assault and harassment.

An Easton couple's breakup led to one person knifed, the other choked and both behind bars on criminal charges, police said. Bradford T. Boss, 33, is accused of simple assault and harassment, while Donna A. Muro, 42, faces aggravated assault and harassment charges. Police said Boss and Muro got into a fight early Monday at their 127 S. Seventh St. home after Muro said she no longer wanted to be with Boss. Boss suffered a cut to his left thumb after Muro came after him with a knife, police said.

The only felony charge against an 18-year-old student accused of joining in a post-basketball game brawl at Pleasant Valley High School last month was dropped Friday. And Ryan Gallagher's lawyer said he'll try to get him into a probationary program for first-time offenders that could clear his record of the remaining charges. Prosecutors withdrew a riot charge against Gallagher, a Stroudsburg Area High School basketball player with a Delaware Water Gap address. Gallagher then waived a preliminary hearing before District Judge Debby York of Brodheadsville on summary charges of disorderly conduct and harassment.